Inside the Phillies with MLB.com beat writer Todd Zolecki

Halladay to DL

The news is bad, but it could have been much worse.

The Phillies placed Roy Halladay on the 15-day disabled list Tuesday with what they call a Grade 1/2 strain of his right latissimus dorsi. He will be sidelined from activity for three weeks, but the Phillies are hopeful he can be pitching again in six to eight weeks.

“We hate to have him down,” Phillies assistant general manager Scott Proefrock said, “but it’s nothing that requires anything other than rest.”

That means no torn rotator cuff or labrum.

That means no surgery.

“If there’s good news from an injury, this is probably good news,” Phillies pitching coach Rich Dubee said.

But it is a blow to a team that has been struggling this season just to have a winning record. The Phillies have recalled catcher Erik Kratz to take Halladay’s place on the 25-man roster. Vance Worley, who is on the disabled list with inflammation in his right elbow, could take Halladay’s spot in the rotation Monday. He threw a bullpen session Tuesday and is scheduled to throw another Friday.

If Worley returns Monday, the Phillies will have Cole Hamels, Cliff Lee, Joe Blanton, Kyle Kendrick and Worley in the rotation until Halladay returns.

“I’m comfortable with what we got,” Dubee said. “Why not?”

Halladay is 4-5 with a 3.98 ERA in 11 starts this season, but 1-3 with a 6.11 ERA in six starts in May. He has not looked like himself since Spring Training, despite his insistence he felt fine. FOX’s Ken Rosenthal wrote a story during Spring Training citing two scouts that Halladay lacked velocity and sharpness in his first few Grapefruit League starts. Halladay strongly denied any implications he might not be healthy, but questions about his velocity continued during the regular season.

Halladay pitched well at times, but he hasn’t dominated like he had in the past.

“I thought since Spring Training that there was an issue,” Dubee admitted. “The ball just hasn’t been accelerating through the zone like his stuff does.”

Especially his sinker.

“Cutter, too,” Dubee said. “His stuff is different than most people’s stuff. His stuff from the cut of the grass to the hitting zone was explosive. Now, it is more gradual.”

Dubee said he had talked with Halladay about some “crankiness” near his right shoulder for some time, but Halladay said it was nothing serious.

“Then I could tell in his last outing (Sunday in St. Louis) from his body language that he wasn’t close to being right,” Dubee said. “So we got him out of there. Hopefully, we caught this thing at a good time — if there is a good time — and we can get it strengthened, corrected and get him on the mound.”

Of course, one question is why the Phillies did not pull Halladay earlier?

“Guys always have pitched with something,” Dubee said. “You don’t feel 100 percent very often when you go out there. There are lingering things. I thought that this was a minor lingering thing. We talked and he thought he could pitch through it. It never got better and we finally had to stop and see what’s going on.”

The Phillies aren’t sure when the injury happened, if it came on one pitch or happened gradually over time.

“I haven’t seen that good stuff since spring training so you wonder,” Dubee said. “He pitched a whale of a game on the last day (in Game 5 of the 2011 National League Division Series). Was it happening then? Did it happen when he started long tossing? You really don’t know when it happened. Does it happen over wear and tear? You could throw a lot of things into the equation.”

Roy Oswalt just agreed to terms on a contract with the Texas Rangers, so he is no longer an option, if the Phillies were looking at him to bolster the rotation. In the short term, it looks like the Phillies will pitch with what they have. If something should happen again to Worley or another starter the Phillies seem likely to have one of their Triple-A starters – Dave Bush, Scott Elarton or Tyler Cloyd – fill a spot.

“We’ll find a way to piece it together if that’s necessary,” Proefrock said. “We’ll see how it plays out in the next couple of days. … We’re very fortunate to have Kyle Kendrick in the role that he’s been and with the success he’s pitched with. If you look at the last couple of years, that’s all that he’s done. He’s filled in when there’s been an injury. Jamie Moyer a couple years ago, last year with Oswalt and Joe. Hes’ already been in the rotation this year, first for Cliff and now Vance. And now Roy.”

The Phillies are hopeful Halladay can return to prior form with a little rest.

“Halladay’s thrown a lot of pitches, man,” Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. “He’s 35, and he’s thrown a lot of bullets over his career. Sooner or later, that’s going to catch up with him. I think he’s at the point where if he just steps back a little bit, you’ll still see that dominant pitcher. I think that he wants to go out there and finish every game. He’s everything he’s built up to be. What you’re seeing is, even the best sometimes have to take a step back and regroup as far as how he feels.”

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30 Comments

Has anyone ever told Roy that sometimes he can be a stubborn ass? (And I say that with love). I mean, I love his “Take one for the team attitude”, but seriously, if you’re hurt, and it’s hurting the team, tell someone!

I know I’ve said this before. But I’m saying it again…..I get “playing through the pain”. I really do. But there’s a fine line of not helping the team, and actually hurting the team. Doc’s REALLY hurt the team now. And I can make a list of other players, who have done the same thing, over the last few years.
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Why can’t the survive this? Halladay hasn’t won in a month, Lee hasn’t won at all, they have been missing their 3-4 hitters from day one, and their bullpen is a work-in-progress. Yet they are still only 4 out of first place in the division.

muleman, they are four games out of first place and two games out of a playoff spot, with no wins from either Halladay or Lee in something like 5 weeks. The number of teams in between them and a playoff spot is irrelelvant with something like 100 games left to play. If they have Howard, Utley, Halladay, and one more effective piece in the bullpen for August and September, I don’t care how many games they are out.

Dude, four games separate five teams in the division. There are over 100 games left. What exactly is insurmountable about that? There are probably ten teams in the mix for five playoff spots and the Phillies are one of them.
As far as Utley and Howard are concerned, I am hoping for the best and that they perform when they get back. Better than being a whiney, angst-ridden crybaby. Grow some sack, muleman. No crying in baseball.

phan: How much help Utley and/or Howard will give them remains to be seen. The number of games left isn’t the issue. And, come September, you’d better care how many games behind they are. It matters now and it matters then.

Dude, four games separate five teams in the division. There are over 100 games left. What exactly is insurmountable about that? There are probably ten teams in the mix for five playoff spots and the Phillies are one of them.
As far as Utley and Howard are concerned, I am hoping for the best and that they perform when they get back. Better than being a whiney, angst-ridden crybaby. Grow some sack, muleman. No crying in baseball.

Did I say “insurmountable?” No. You have to depend on 4 teams collapsing rather than 1. It’s really very simple. How does having 10 teams “in the mix for playoffs” encourage you?
I’m sorry you think I’m a “whiny, angst-ridden crybaby.” What I am is a realist. What has Utley done the past 3 years that would encourage you that he could be anything CLOSE to that with two bad knees? And how does Howard find power with a calf muscle that has been surgically altered?
You’re grasping at straws. And for the record, I didn’t get personal and you did. That’s the sign of a desperate argument.

We are not depending on 4 teams to collapse!! If the Phils improve just a little bit, the team will naturally climb up to the top of the division… For example, if the Phils hadn’t drop that wild game against the Braves and that had a little bit of clutch hitting on that tough 2-1 loss against the Nationals at home last week, we would’ve been 0.5 GB from the Marlins (who would be at the top), tied with the Nationals, 1.0 game ahead of the Mets and 2 ahead of the Braves…

Two games can change THAT much! It’s definately too soon to write the Phils off!

“You have to depend on 4 teams “collapsing” rather than 1″ lolololololol
It takes the “collapse” of all four teams ahead of the Phils in order for the Phils to make the postseason, muleman? lolololololololol

So trying to leap-frog four teams for a fifth place team is different than a first place team attempting to hold off the four teams below it? The object of all teams is to win all games at all times or at a minimum more games than any other team in the division. Standings and games behind are merely a reflection of a teams performance at a point in time. A snapshot of the continuum to the ultimate goal.

muleman, no one is going to take your side on this particular issue. There are 110 games left in the season, a little more than 2/3rds of the season. The Phils are playing much better as a team in the past two weeks than they did in the previous 6 weeks. Sure, losing Doc will hurt the team every 5th start, but the truth is that every start Doc had had in the past month has been mediocre to horrible. He had become an automatic loss instead of an automatic win. Worley coming off the DL will be an upgrade. One phan went to last night’s game and said that he saw Chase taking grounders and participating in batting practice before the game. Chase seems to be closing in to his rehab stint in Florida and LV; he could be back to the team by around the AllStar break. Doc should be back by August and he will have a FIRE in his eyes that will scare opposing hitters. Ryan needs to build up his leg strength before he can even get to doing demanding baseball activities, but he will almost definitely be back in July sometime. He may take a while to get his timing back, but he should be raking bigtime by September, when we will need him the most. This is why ALL of us feel that the postseason is within reach. I’d like to add that the parity of the NL East will make it possible to win the division with less than 90 wins. With the entire team intact in September, it’s not inconceiveable that the Phils win 20 games in September. So enjoy this competitive season and the hard work the Phils will have to put into it to win the division or even get a wildcard berth.

Harsh on the Charlie comment aren’t we? Geesh! I’m assuming that you’re talking about Manuel. He’s been stuck in his ways but I see that even he is loosening that up. He put Paplebon in last night to close out that game. Something that I’m not sure he would have done in the past.He’s also moving around the batting order and being very creative as of late. At least that’s how I see things anyway.

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